Vigilante
by afrozenheart412
Summary: No matter how different their POVs may be, Sheldon and Lindsay will always be friends.  I had to get this idea out of my head, so I'm sorry if this doesn't fit in with the episode, but you be the judge.


This is dedicated to two wonderful people who have been very patient and kind to me, Brinchen86 and LME. I usually transcribe the episodes for them, for their websites New York Angels and Carmine Giovinazzo Fan Board (links to them are on my profile). But this time I couldn't, because I'm out of town right now on an emergency. After watching the episode, I had to do this for them in thanks for their understanding and patience.

Disclaimer: CSI NY belongs to much more powerful people than I. I'm just a lowly smart butt borrowing them.

* * *

Sitting on the bench resting her forehead against the cool metal of her locker, Lindsay is startled with the screech of metal being yanked open near her. Looking over at the noise, she sees Sheldon angrily pulling on his jacket. Stifling a sigh, she gets up and opens her locker and gathers her stuff.

"Sheldon-," she starts before she is interrupted.

"Lindsay, save it," Sheldon wearily tells her, the anger draining out of him. Getting his messenger bag out of his locker, he slams the door shut. "You don't understand what it is like, so just stop."

"No, I don't know what it is like. I'm not perfect Sheldon, and I never will be, not in this job or any other." Lindsay pauses, gathering her thoughts in order to try and get him to understand where she is coming from.

"_I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:_

_I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.__  
__I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism._  
_  
__I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.__  
__I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery._  
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__I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God._  
_  
__I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick._  
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__I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure._  
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__I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm._  
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__If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help._"

He pauses at the familiar words she recites to him, the feeling of those words like a weight upon his shoulders. It's at times like these when he felt the words of the moral and just didn't coincide with the way of the world. It felt naive, and at times…wrong.

"Do you remember the oath you took when you started on your path to being a doctor? How would've killing Kara's rapist been better for her, Sheldon?" Lindsay asks, grabbing her jacket from her locker. Turning to look at him, she puts it on fluffing out her hair from beneath the collar. "Who would've helped her then? Where would you've been when she needed to be held to keep the nightmares at bay? Or when she needed to yell and scream to get the anger out? In jail, and you know _exactly_ what it's like to be trapped in that place. A place where you couldn't help anyone, least of all yourself."

Sitting down beside him, on the bench "When I decided in college to become a cop, a wise man told me that the words 'protect and serve' didn't just limit me to protecting the good guys…that there would be days in which the job would test me by bringing the killer to justice no matter who they were or how much I sympathized with their plight."

"It's very easy to say that killing is the right thing to do, when you don't even have the concept of what it is like to aim the gun and pull the trigger…taking a life that has harmed you and yours." Swallowing the lump in her throat, she looks him in the eye. "The hard part is doing the job because it needs to be done, when there aren't any easy answers to fall back on."

With her bag in hand, she closes her locker door and turns one last time to him. "What will you do when faced with a mistake? Will you move forward or do your best to correct it?"

"I know that I was wrong in the way I treated Kate. So wrong that it will haunt me, but I'm doing my best to make it right. I just hope that you can see this from my point of view." Sighing at the silence from her friend, she moves to leave. Grabbing the locker room handle she stops when Sheldon places his hand on her shoulder.

"Lindsay...will I see you tomorrow?" He asks, looking into her wet eyes solemnly.

"Yeah, so are we okay?" She asks with hope in her voice.

"We never weren't. We're just two very different people with views that clash at times. Besides, what else should I expect arguing with a Messer?" Sheldon laughs as she lightly punches him in the arm.

"Seriously, I do understand where you are coming from Lindsay. But the pain Kara went through, it won't ever heal for either of us. I couldn't protect her and knowing that...it burned a hole into me that won't ever go away. I-I still think about how I let it come between us...and I want to do better by Camille," His voice choked with emotion

"You won't let it Sheldon, it's your compassion that gives you the drive to do better in life and this job. That's why I feel so fortunate to be your friend," she says giving him a hug, wiping at her eyes. "Now how about a visit with your favorite niece? Lucy has been missing her Uncle Sheldon."

"Sounds good to me," Sheldon smiles returning her hug. Friends who are different in a lot of ways, but the same in the way it counts.

* * *

This will reveal me as a bad DL fan, but I didn't find anything wrong with Vigilante being only a Lindsay episode. There could have been more of her but I think it would be greedy since the last Lindsay case episode was three years ago. It is sad that after all of this time Lindsay is only seen as a Danny's wife and etc., when she started on the show a character in her own right. And who else couldn't love seeing their favorite character being human by making a mistake in the way she handled things? I really hope that I didn't offend anyone with this story, argument, and how I wrote Sheldon and Lindsay. But I just needed to add my two cents.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, it was quickly written and is probably crap but this is how I see Sheldon and Lindsay. I had to add a little humor at the end...its me and you all know I can't be totally serious all of the time. Again, I hope you enjoyed this and I promise I'll get back to you when I get back into town. Thank you!


End file.
